Vedanta Wins Big in India's First Open Acreage Auction
Indian private sector firm Vedanta has been awarded the highest number of oil and gas blocks under the recently concluded Open Acreage Licence Policy (OALP), Indian upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) said August 28.
Vedanta bagged 41 out of 55 oil and gas exploration blocks offered in the first open acreage auction. State-owned Oil India was awarded nine blocks. Other winners were Gail, upstream arm of BPCL and Hindustan Oil Exploration, DGH said.
Vedanta bid for all the 55 blocks, ONGC bid for 37 blocks, Oil India put in 18 bids while Gail put in six bids. A total of 110 bids were received for 55 oil and gas blocks. The 55 blocks are spread across India and include onshore, shallow water and deep water areas spread across 60,000 km2.
The OALP was launched by Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan in June 2017. According to the minister aim of this round is to accelerate exploration activities in the country since investors can express their interest in an area which they feel has prospective without waiting for formal bidding.